Apparatus for conveying earth and detritus through different pressure areas of tunnels



LQQQAZO April 30, 1935.. L. F. PARKER APPARATUS FOR CONVEYING EARTH AND DETRITUS THROUGH DIFFERENT PRESSURE AREAS OF TUNNELS Filed Feb 1'7 1932 9 Sheets-Sheet l 9 SheetsQSheet 2 L. F. PARKER EYING EARTH AND DETRITUS THROU PRESSURE AREAS oF TUNNELS Filed Feb. 17, 1932 INVENTOR DIFFERENT APPARATUS FOR CONV prin w 1935.

ATTORNEY e e h S 9 pm 3&1, w35., L. F. PARKER APPARATUS FOR CONVEYING EARTH AND DETRITUs THROUGH DIFFERENT PRESSURE AREAS OF TUNNELs Flled Feb 17 1932 INVENTOR ATTORNEY April 30, R935., 1 F. PARKER LWQAZ@ APPARATUS FOR CONVEYING EARTH AND DETRITUS THROUGH DIFFERENT PRESSURE AREAS OF TUNNELS Filed Feb. 17, 1932 9 Sheets-Sheet NJ. WW

) INVE TOR BZ /M ATTORNEY pnl 30, 193. F PARKER 1,999,420

APPARATUS FOR CONVEYING EARTH AND DETRITUS THROUGH DIFFERENT PRESSURE AREAS OF TUNNELS Filed Feb 17 1932 9 Sheets-Sheet 5 l INVENTOR M 77', fm-

BY' Xu "//QAM ATTORNEY 1935.. 1 l l: PARKER L999A-2 APPARATUS FOR CONVEYING EARTH AND DETRITUS THROUGH DIFFERENT PRESSURE AREAS 0F TUNNELS 1932 9 Sheets-Sheet 7 Filed Feb. 17

ATTORNEY pru 30, 1935. l., F. PARKER 999420 APPARATUS FOR CONVEYING EARTH AND DETRITUYS THROUGH DIFFERENT PRESSURE AREAS OF TUNNELS Filed Feb. 17, 1932 9 Sheets-Sheet 8 ATTORNEY April 30,1935. F. PARKER 1,999,420

APPARATUS FOR CONVEYING EARTH AND DETRITUS THROUGHv DIFFERENT PRESSURE AREAS 0F TUNNELS Filed Feb. 17, 1932 9 'Sheet'=."-.Sl'1ee"r,V 9

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llllllllv'- Il Il Ll um u A ORNEY Patented Apr. 30, 1935 UNE'E'E STTS TENT orties Laurie F. Parker, Boston, Mass., assignor to Silas Mason Company, Inc., East Boston, Mass., a corporation ofy Delaware Application February 17, 1932, Serial No. 593,460 e claims. (o1. i1-s4) The object of the present invention is to provide means for continuously conveying earth and detritus in the cutting of tunnels under air pressure so that the cut materialv may be continuously carried from a high pressure area of the tunnel to low pressure areas, as, for example, atmospheric pressure areas, without changing those pressures during conveying of the material.

In brief, the method consists in conveying the cut material to a distributor adapted to suc-v cessively direct the material to chambers wherein conveying means are kadapted to receive the material and discharge it to a given point of discharge, the pressure within a chamthat when that point is reached, the mst-named chamber againrreceives pressure and a load oi material for subsequent discharge. The discharged material may be fed to a continuously moving conveyor upon which it is continuously -received In other words, the method consists in so conveying material from a point of high pressure to a point of relatively low pressure, that the material is, ormay be, discharged continuously without any interruptions due 'to open" v ing and closing air locks.

The invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. l is a schematic perspective view of an embodiment oi the invention.

Fig. 2 is a chart indicating the sequence of operation of the elements shown in Fig. l.

Fig. 3 is a perspective View of a plurality of control disks, one for each conveyor tank for enabling the electrical control of the operations in sequence.

Figfi is a plan View, partly in section, showing the discharge end of the apparatus illustrated in Fig. l.

Fig. 5 is a sectional elevation on the line 5-5,

Y Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a plan view, partly in section, of the apparatus. Y

Fig. 7 isa View in elevation of the apparatus.

Fig. 8 is a side elevation, partly in section, of

the receiving end of the apparatus'.

Fig. 9 is an enlarged transverse section through the casing il and the members below it.

Fig. 9a is a fragmentary perspective View of one oi the walls of the distributor member and showing supporting plates for the discharge shutter.

Fig. `l is an enlarged fragmentary sectional View through one of the distributor Valve seats showing a portion of a valve and its lateral guide means.

Fig. 11 is an enlarged side elevation of the mechanism for actuating the distributor shutter. Y

Fig. 12 is a plan view of the same.

Fig. 13 is an enlarged elevation of the distributor valve seats, Valves and operating mechanism, all of which may be identical with the discharge valve seats, Valves and operating mechanism.

Fig. 14 is a front elevation of the structure shown in Fig. 13.

ReferringV to Fig.,1 of the drawings, i indicates a wall separating two sections of a tunnel, the section A being of higher air compression than the section B.

The letters and numerals employed in Fig. 1 will be used only for that figure, with the exception of the number i for the wall and A and B for the two sections of the tunnel. The letters and numerals in Fig. 1 refer to the chart showing the sequence of operationsand to the controlling disk, Fig. 3, for a general and preliminary understanding of the sequence of operations later to be described.

The distributor The distributor is designed to distribute the earth and detritus to conveyors located within conveyor tanks, and in the present embodiment, there are two `conveyor tanks, 2 and 3. The distributor comprises a casing 4 which supports bearing members for a shaft 6 carrying a pulley 'l for a conveyor belt 8 by means of which material is discharged into the casing.

Below and centrally of the casing is a horizontal support 9 to the right of which is a chute E@ leading to a valve casing I I and to the left of which is a chute I2 leading to a valve casing I3. Valve casing II is disposed above a short conduit iii communicating with the top of the conveyor tank 2 and valve casing I3 lies above a short conduit I5 communicating with the top of con- Veyor tank 3.

Above horizontal support 9 is a distributor shutter I 6 carried by a shaft I'I.

Secured to wall 4X of the casing are a plurality of spaced blades l 8, triangular in formation, their edges being partially cut away at I8X to form shouldered seats for the upper margin of the distributor shutter, as shown in Figs. 9 and 9a, and above the shouldered seats is fixed plate I9. Similarly formed blades i8 and plates i9 are applied to wall li of the casing.

References to Figs. 11 and 12 will show that shaft i? is mounted to oscillate in bearing members 2i carried by the frame 22, and secured thereto are spaced depending arms 23 each carrying inwardly projecting opposed flanged plates24, ythe two sets of plates forming a raceway for the head 25 of a piston rod 26 adapted to be reciprocated within piston 21. A

At one side of the piston is a pipe 21S and at the opposite side a pipe 28X communicating with a pressure and relief valveY 2S) of a known construction and which is controlled by two switch boxes Sil, 3l. Box 30 is provided with a roll-end lever 32 and box 3i with a roll-end lever 33.

At the lower end of one of the arms 23 is a contact member li-X which engages .lever 3,3 when the distributor shutter is thrown to the left, thereby actuating valve 29 to releaseair .pressure from pipe 28 and admit air pressure to pipe 28X, causing piston rod 25 to move inwardly and thus swing Jche distributor shutter E to the right, this movement causing contact member 34X to strike lever 32, thus actuating the mechanism of switch box Se to reversely operate valve 29.

However, the throwing of one ofthe switches 32, 33, will not immediately cause operation of the valve 29X, there being a time delay to permit discharge of material into the tank controlled by the distributor until the conveyor belt therein/has carried the material forwardly until it is ready for discharge from the tank. To this end, the switches 3Q and 3l will be in an electric circuit (not shown) also comprising an actuating solenoid Sli and the control disk will maintain the circuit open until the time delay has been completed, as will hereinafter be described more fully.

Solenoid 3@ will be adapted to reciprocate solenoid core SliXX (Fig. l1) which is connected to one end of the lever 35, fulcrumed at'35 and connected intermediate its length with valve rod 29X.

The distributor valves As shown in Figs. 8, 9 and 10, each distributor chute lil and I2 is provided with a valve casing i i and i3; these casings being alike in construction and casing H being shown in longitudinal section in Fig. 8.

Within each casing is a gate valve i9 having laterally projecting ribs 39X (Fig. 10) which enter slideways formed in the channelled bracket 5l! at each side of the valve.

At the i ase of the casing is a plate 5I vhaving an aperture in register with the aperture of short conduit lli and the gate valve is adapted to slide upon the plate. The contacting surfaces of the plate and valve may be provided with anti-friction material as shown at MK3, Fig. 10, which will also serve to effect an air-tight seal when the gate valve is in closed position.

Each gate valve is connected to a piston rod 52 having a piston 53 adapted to reciprocate in a cylinder 50.- to which is led compressed Vair through pipes 55, 56, leading to a two-way pressure and relief valve 5l having operative connections with a solenoid 58 which solenoid will be ina circuit including the controlling disks shown in Fig. 3 for timed operation. f

As shown in Fig. 13, each gate Yvalve will, in it reciprocation, close a switch member, also in the circuit, at the end of a closing movement and at the end of an opening movement of the valve. To this end, each gate valve has connected thereto a rod 59 having thereon a contact member 6i! adapted to engage the arm BIX of switch 6I when the gate valve approaches the end of its closing movement. Rod 59 will also carry a contact member 62 adapted to` engage arm 63X of switch member 53 when the gate reaches the end of its opening movement. inasmuch as the conveyor and one tank is receiving material at the time when the second tank is discharging material, the gate valves reciprocate reversely one to the other, one gate being open while the other is closed.

Reference to Fig. 13 will show that Vthe lower gate, which will control discharge chute l0 is open and that rod 5E! has been brought into position to actuate the arm of switch member 63, thus closing the circuit except for the break therein due to the position of the control disks shown in Fig. 3 which disks at the proper moment will complete the circuit and cause solenoid 58 to be energized to act upon valve 51 for the admission of compressed fluid through pipe 55 to the rear of theA piston causing the piston rod to advance with the gate and bring the gate to closed position shutting off tank 2 from the distributor. The electrical circuit and construction of the solenoid and valve form no part of thepresent invention, and are not shown in detail.

During theoperation of the gate yvalve in each case either upon opening or upon closing the valve, or during both operations, means are provided for discharging blasts of air longitudinally of the valve casing in order to clear away particles of dirt which may lodge upon exposed surfaces thereof. To this end, there is disposed transversely of the valve casing at one end thereof, a pipe-Sill apertured to `permit thepassage of blasts of air and fed by piping 55 vand leading to the relief orvdischarge ports of valves 51, so that blasts of air will be ejected from pipe 64 upon both the closing and the opening of each valve d. The pipe connections intermediate apertured pipe 64 and valves 5"! are shown more particularly in Figs. 13 and 14.

The tank: conveyors Any suitable conveyor may be used in each tank and the conveyor belt may be driven by any suitable means. In the present embodiment, I have shown for each tank end rollers 3l and 38 over which the belt may travel and a plurality of guide rollers 39, 39X for supporting and guiding the belt in its travel, the belt being driven through rotation of the sprockett carried by shaft lil upon which roller 38 is mounted, the sprocket being connected by a chain 42 with a sprocket 43 ona shaft 44 driven by rotation of a sprocket 45 which in turn is driven by -belt '4G with a sprocket on va shaft 41 driven by suitable speed reduction gearing from a -motor 48. The

motor is preferably a two-speed motor and will.

be controlled by the control disks of Fig. 3 through any suitable instrumentalities so as to have a period of low speed and a period of relatively high speed .for the purpose hereinafter set forth.

The conveyor tank discharge mechanism The discharge mechanism for each tank is the same in construction.

Referring to Fig. 5,V with reference to tank .2, it will be seen that below the discharge end of the conveyor mechanism in the tank and adapted to receive material therefrom is a chute 66 adapt` ed to discharge within a valve casing 6l similar to each of the gate valve casings il and I3 and having therein a gate valve 68 adapted to be re` ciprocated by a piston rod 59, the piston 69X of the rod being disposed within a cylinder l.

At one end of the cylinder is a pipe 1|, for compressed air, and at the opposite end a pipe i2 for said compressed air, the pipes leading to valves "i3 operated by a solenoid in box 14.

Below the valve casing and in register with chute d5 .is a conduit 'i5 adapted to discharge upon conveyor belts TS. The gate valve in its movement will be guided by guide brackets H into channels of which the gate valve will be guided in the same manner as gate valves 49 are guided by the guide brackets 5t.

Each gate valve 68 will have connected thereto a rod 8i, Fig. 4 having thereon two contact members i9 and 35. When the gate valve is moved to closed position, contact member 19 will throw switch arm ix of switch S2 to close the switch preparatory to an opening movement of the gate valve and when the gate valve is moved to open position, contact member 85 will throw arm $3 or switch 84 to close the switch preparatory to a closing movement of the gate valve. Both move* ments are delayed however, by the control disks in Fig. 3 so that when in the continuous rotation of the latter, the propercircuit is momentarily closed, and the proper solenoid 'M will be actu- .ated. In such actuation pressure will be relieved from cylinder 'Hl and reversely directed pressure emitted through one of the pipes 'H or l2. The arrangement is such that when the solenoid is energized it will actuate the valve 'I3 to open one of the pipes 7|, 52, to the atmosphere so as to remove air compression back of piston 69X, the latter being at one end of the cylinder and will admit compressed air to the cylinder to the s`ec ond of said pipes for movement of piston 59X in a direction opposite to that in which'it was previously moved but When the solenoid is de-energized, a reverse action will take piace, the valve being a four-way solenoid Valve, a being, for example, a pressure inlet and b exhaust as to both the distributor valves 29 and the discharge valves 1,3.

The pressure system ,for the tanks Referring to Fig. 6, it will be seen that an air pressure switch tank is provided at 35 having a pipe 8 leading to a pressure inlet valve 37 for tank 2 and a pipe 5 leading to a pressure inletvalve 88 for tank 3. Adjacent pressure inlet valve 8 1 is a pressure outlet valve 89 and adjacent pressure inlet valve 88 is a pressure outlet valve 9d. These valves are used for compressing and decompressing the conveyor tanks. All of the valves Bl to 90 inclusive, are preferably hydraulic thruster valves employing a motor c (Fig. '7) for actuating an impeller to cause a piston to rise which will actuate valve lever d in each case.

General operation As hereinbefore explained, the sequence of operation of the mechanism for each tank is timed and the timing means may be a rotating control disk for each electrical circuit as indicated schematically in Fig. 3, wherein the disk 3| is for control of the tank 3 and 92 for control of tank 2.

Assuming that the complete cycleof operation is set for 160 seconds, the operation is started by mechanism for rotating the control disks in the direction of the arrow, Fig. 3, so that they will complete their rotation in said time. These disks will have spaced cams for actuating circuit closers or will otherwise be adapted to close a plurality of circuits successively. These cams are indicated by the circuit indications MD, CL, etc., on disk Si, and MD', R', D', etc. on disk 92 of Fig. 3.

The rst action of the control disk will be to close the circuit MD leading to motor 48 for rotation of the conveyor within tank 3 at slow speed, it being assumed that said tank has previously been compressed, and close circuit MD! leading to second motor 48 for operating the conveyor within tank 2 at high speed. It will be assumed that the conveyor belt in tank 2 will be covered with material to be discharged from a point adjacent discharge chute for that tank to a point near the distributor. The next action of the control disk will be to close circuit L leading to switch 5l and solenoid 58 for tank 3, the solenoid acting upon valve 51 to admit compressed air to pipe 55, piston 5S and rod. 52 being operated thereby to open the receiving gate valve 49 for tank 3; and simultaneously the control disk acts to close circuit Di, opening the discharge gate valve 68 for tank 2. Due to the high speed of its motor, the conveyor belt for tank 2 will move forward rapidly discharging its contents through the open discharge gate valve 68 for said tank 2 whilst the conveyor belt for tank 3 is receiving material. Upon the discharge of all the material from the conveyor belt in tank 2, the disks close circuit V and DI thereby swinging the distributor gate for distribution to tank 2 and closing the discharge gate valve for tank 2.

The disks then close circuits L and CI thereby closing distributor gate valve for tank 3 and opening the compressor air valve for tank 2, whereby the pressure in tank 2 is raised to that of section A of the tunnel in advance of wall l. The disks then close circuits R and MDI thereby opening pressure release valve for tank 3 and operating the conveyor motor for tank 2 at slow speed.

The next action of the control disks is to close circuits MD and LI, thereby operating the motor for conveyor belt in tank 3 at high speed and opening the distributor valve gate for tank 2.

The next action of the control disks is to close circuits D and V, thereby opening discharge gate valve for tank 3 and swinging distributor shutter to discharge into tank 3.

The next action of the control disks is to close circuits D and L' closing the discharge gate valve for tank 3 and closing the distributor gate valve for tank 2.

The next action of the control disks is to close circuits C and R', thereby opening the compressed air valve vfor tank 3 torcompress said tank and opening the air release valve for tank 2 thereby- (le-compressing said tank. In other Words, for each tank, the valve operations follow in sequence.

The conveyor belt starting at slow speed, the distributor gate is opened, and its distributor shutter thrown to enable discharge into the tank. When the belt has received its discharge of material, the distributor gate valve is closed, and thereupon the air release valve is opened, decompressing the tank.

The motor is then run at high speed, the discharge gate opened and after the material is discharged, the gate is closed; the closing of the discharge gate Valve enables re-compression of the tank and the compressed air valve is opened for that purpose, whereupon, the motor may be run at slow speed, the distributor gate opened, the distributor shutter moved to proper position and the operations following in their proper sequence.

In Fig. 1, the letters indicating circuits shown on the chart of Fig. 2 and disks of Fig. 3, are used in connection with leading lines to the various elements at the circuits control.

It will be understood that various modifications may be made in the form and arrangement of the elements comprising the embodiment illustrated in the drawings, the air jet arrangement for clearing the gate valve and its casing of earth shown in Fig. i3 as applied to the gate valves for the distributor, may be duplicated for the gate valves at the discharge ends of the tanks as indicated in dottedlines, Fig. 4. If desired, more than two tanks may be employed, and the means for conveying earth and detritus through the tanks may be widely changed from that illustrated in the drawings, as, for example, through the provision of screw propelling means, although -I have found that belts function satisfactorily. If desired, the gate valves may be operated mechanically through levers and a mechanical control can be substituted for an electrical control. These and other modifications are within the purview of those skilled in the art, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent, being as follows:-

l. In apparatus for conveying material from a high pressure area to a low pressure area, and in combination with a tunnel bulkhead, of two air pressure cylinders extending through said bulky head, each cylinder having a receiving aperture near one end thereof and a discharge aperture near the opposite end thereof, a traveling conveyor within each chamber for conveying material longitudinally thereof, gate valves for the receiving and discharge apertures of said chamber, a hopper, chutes connecting the hopper with said receiving apertures of the chambers, a shutter intermediate said chutes and the hopper and movable to positions for alternately closing and opening the chutes relatively to the hopper, and power means for operating said shutter.

2. Apparatus constructed in accordance with claim l in combination with means for supporting the shutter in each of two positions relatively to the hoppensaid means comprising a plurality of spaced blades. l

3. Apparatus constructed in accordance with claim l, in combination with means carried by the hopper for supporting the shutter in each of two positions, said means comprising a plurality of opposed sets of blades, the blades being each formed with a reduced section provided with an overlying shoulder, the shutter abutting the shoulders of a set of blades in each position, and

a plate supported by each setof blades above the shoulders thereof.

4. In apparatus for conveying material from a high pressure area to a low pressure area, and in combination `with a tunnel bulkhead, of two air pressure cylinders extending through said bulkhead, each rcylinder having a receivingl aperture near one end thereof and a discharge aperture near the opposite end thereof, a traveling conveyor within each chamber for conveying material longitudinally thereof, gate valves for the receiving and discharge apertures of said chambers, means for delivering material to the cylinders alternately, means for reciprocating the gate valves and a two-speed motor drive for each traveling conveyor whereby the conveyor may receive material during itsmovement at relatively low speed and may discharge material during its movement at relatively high speed.

5. In apparatus for conveying material from a high pressure area to a low pressure area, and in combination with a tunnel bulkhead, of two air pressure cylinders extending through said bulkhead, each cylinder having a receivingaperture near one end thereof and a discharge aperture near the opposite end thereof, a traveling con-v veyor within each chamber for conveying material longitudinally thereof, a casing disposed above each cylinder receiving aperture, a gate valve mounted in said casing and adapted for movement to close and open said receiving aperture, power means for operating said gate valves, a hopper, two `depending chutes leading from the hopper, each chute being connected with one of said casings, a shutter pivotally mounted intermediate the hopper and the chutes, power meansr for swinging the shutter on its pivot to alternately close and open each chute, a casing communieating with each discharge aperture, a gate valve mounted in each-of the last named casings and power means for operating the last named gate valves.

6. In apparatus for conveying material from a high pressure area to a low pressure area, and in combination with a tunnel bulkhead, of an air pressure cylinder extending through said bulkhead, said cylinder having a `receiving aperture at one end thereof and a discharge aperture at the opposite end thereof, a traveling conveyor within the chamber for conveying material longitudinally thereof, a casing carried by the cylinder at the receiving aperture, a gate valve within said casing, a casing carried by the cylinder atA the discharge aperture and a gate valve in said casing, power means forgoperating said gate valve, and means for driving said traveling conveyor with an initial relative low speed and a succeeding relative high speed.

LAURIE F. PARKER. 

